British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 413

CHAPTER X.

would have to be diverted to prevent Lake Galilee running dry. The Jordan valley would be irrigated by canals taking off what little water would be left in the Jordan, or what would accrue from underground water and the Beisan springs. Mr. Savage suggests that the Lebanon would agree to the diversion of large quantities of Lebanese water which would be taken in the high level canal mentioned above, all the way to the Neqeb .

A very large number of dams for storage reservoirs would be constructed in the wadis; the storm-water which it is contemplated would fill these would be released to swell supplies of irrigation water in the main Lebanon-to-Neqeb canal in the summer. Eventually the distribution of irrigation water in the scheme would resemble that of water used in cities for domestic consumption and for watering villa gardens, with all the complementary requisites of small reservoirs, sprinkler units, pressure pumps, meters and complicated reticulation systems of numerous steel pipes.

Without close checking and reference to more detailed information than is now available, it is impossible to accept the estimated costs of the scheme. The cost per unit of water estimated in the report is very high indeed when compared with that in irrigation works in other countries. The scheme envisages the irrigation of two and a half million dunums with nearly two thousand million cubic metres of water a year. This represents a total continual flow of sixty cubic metres of water per second. It cannot be agreed that this continual flow would be available for use in a dry year after allowing for losses in transmission. The annual revenue is estimated at four million pounds on the has is of this quantity of water being delivered to the fields at 2!r mils per cubic metre. This is equivalent to a water rate eight times as large as the present rural property tax. This and many other features in the scheme demand very careful scrutiny. The dams proposed at Hasbani, Yarmuk and Beisan and their complementary canals, the elimination of the present hydro-electrical works at Jisr Majami', all highly expensive items, will not, it would seem, ensure an increased water supply of more than a few cubic metres per second. The quantity of storm-water available for storage in hill reservoirs has been estimated optimistically, on the has is of the "average" between a high flow in one winter and none in the next. This and the economic implications of the proposal to convey irrigation water from the Lebanon to the Egyptian frontier cannot be accepted without further examination.

A scheme such as is recommended by Mr. Savage and Dr. Lowdermilk calls for an unusual degree of discipline and co-operation amongst the users of the water in the areas to be irrigated,

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